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Jan. 13th, 2004 03:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
turpsThe latest ficlet, too big for comments again...sigh.
A bit of trickyfish and MX for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lincolnkw
Hope you like it :)
It was supposed to be fun, something to keep them amused in a long day of practice. Lance doesn’t think it’s fun now. He did when he was sneaking down the corridors, Chris silent behind him. It was even fun when they were nearly caught, diving into an unlocked room when they heard Joey shout about hidden clothes.
It’s not fun now.
“Lance, get back.” Chris is pushing Lance behind him, trying to shield him with his body. But no matter how big Chris tries to make himself, Lance is just that bit taller and can still see the group of people who are standing scarily close, big ass guns in hand.
Lance looks at them, and they look back, and he holds onto the back of Chris’ shirt with a vice like grip, scrunching the fabric in his fist. He can sense Chris quivering, whole body tensed, ready to charge at a moments notice. Lance puts his free hand on the small of Chris’ back, under his hitched up shirt, fingers pressed against warm skin. He knows Chris would die for him; he doesn’t need a demonstration.
“What do you want? If it’s money I’ll get you some, just let him go.” Lance marvels that Chris sounds so calm, then fights the illogical urge to slap Chris for suggesting he stay behind while Lance go free. Not that he’s going to go free anyway. One man smiles, obviously mocking, raising his gun further in the air. It must be a signal as all of them start to move forward, and Lance is pressed even tighter against the wall as Chris backs up.
Memories fly through Lance’s mind. His family, his friends, his career in Nsync, a lifetime recalled in seconds. It makes Lance dizzy, the only solid thing in his world the feel of Chris’ body against his. He didn’t expect to die like this, in a deserted corridor in an empty rehearsal studio and for a moment Lance feels his knees start to buckle, and he’s thankful that he’s wedged between Chris and the wall.
“Security will be here any moment. You don’t want to do this.” Chris still sounds calm, and Lance’s transported to a time when Chris could solve every problem. When he though Chris could never be hurt and no one could ever hurt him. Lance’s not 17 anymore, he knows Chris can’t solve every problem, but that doesn’t stop that brief flare of hope. That Chris will get them out of this.
The hope’s extinguished when one of the men step forward, pressing his gun against Chris’ head. “We don’t want money, and security won’t be here in time. It doesn’t take long to pull a trigger, even if you have to do it twice.”
“Why?” Lance manages to scrape the word out of his dry throat.
“Because I hate you, we hate you.” Most of the group make some token of agreement. “Why should you get it all? Why should we hide in the shadows while people like you get all the glory? You have to die.”
The man’s insane, Lance can tell and he knows this is the end. Maybe they could have talked their way out of a robbery, but these people want to kill. Murdered for being a success, Lance would laugh at the irony if he wasn’t so scared.
There’s a click and Lance realises he’s seconds from being killed, but first he has to see Chris die, and that isn’t going to happen. The sight of the gun pressed against Chris’ head destroys Lance’s fear in an instant, and he leaps, pushing Chris forward.
There’s a huge bang and a brilliant flash of light, and Lance lies on the cold floor, scared to open his eyes. He thinks he’s still alive, can feel no pain but what if he opens his eyes and sees Chris’ lifeless body. Lance has only just found him; he can’t bear to lose him now.
“It’s okay, you can get up.”
It’s a woman’s voice, and Lance slowly opens his eyes. A red-head is standing over him, smiling reassuringly and Lance takes a deep breath before jerking up-right. “Chris!”
“He’s okay. You just knocked him out when you fell on him. Adam’s with him.” The woman points to a man who’s carefully examining a bruise Lance can see forming on Chris’ forehead. “Here, let me help you up and you can go see him yourself.”
Lance staggers to his feet, and grips her shoulder gratefully as he wobbles to Chris’ side. Dropping ungracefully to his knees, Lance looks at Chris who’s lying on his back. The bruise on his head is spectacular and Lance winces in sympathy, but better a bruise than a bullet. “Where are they?” Lance can’t believe he forgot about them, the people that nearly killed them.
“Gone, at least some of them, he wasn’t so lucky.” The man, Adam, pointed to a body on the ground.
“Is he…”
“No, he’s alive, Brennan just stunned him.” Lance doesn’t know how he feels. He doesn’t believe in killing people in cold blood, but they tried to kill Chris. Maybe this time he believes in an eye for an eye. “The rest of my team are chasing the others, hopefully they’ll have caught them by now.”
“There’s more of you?” Lance starts to feel dizzy again, and reaches for Chris’ lax hand, holding it tight in his own. The woman seems to understand how he feels and crouches down.
“It’ll be fine. Your other friends are safe, and so are you. I wish we’d got here earlier but it took a while to crack the code on the list.”
“There’s a list?” It’s all confusing and Lance just wants to wake Chris up and go back to bed.
“There was a list.” Adam sounds satisfied and Lance can barely stop the urge to just grab hold of him and demand answers. The woman seems to sense this, and quickly suppresses a smile.
“Adam’s right. There was a list but it’s destroyed now. At least to the people that were using it. We have it now and we’re going to make sure no one else gets hurt.
Lance still has questions, but stops when a voice sounds out of nowhere.
Adam, we have them. Do you need help down there?
“No, that’s fine, Jesse.” Adam seems to be talking into thin air, but Lance doesn’t comment, just holds Chris’ hand as Adam and the woman both stand.
“Make sure he gets rest and painkillers when he wakes up.” Adam smiles a little. “It’s been nice to meet you Mr Bass, a pity it wasn’t in better circumstances. Emma you know what to do?”
Emma nods and Lance instinctively moves closer to Chris. “It’s okay. I’m just going to say goodbye. But before I go…can I have a hug” Emma looks embarrassed and Lance nods automatically, then relaxes as Emma gathers him in a loose hug. “Shalimar’s going to be so jealous when I tell her I hugged you.”
Lance hears Adam discretely cough, and Emma pulls back, then stares at him with utter concentration. “We have to go now, Lance. When you wake you won’t remember any of this. You’ll think you were running and Chris fell pulling you down with him. And when you’re at the concert on Tuesday you’ll remember to dedicate a song to your biggest fans, Shalimar and Emma. Sleep now, Lance. Everything’s fine.”
For a few seconds Lance could feel himself slide toward sleep, and hear Adam’s voice talking about being a professional. Then nothing.
A bit of trickyfish and MX for
lincolnkwHope you like it :)
It was supposed to be fun, something to keep them amused in a long day of practice. Lance doesn’t think it’s fun now. He did when he was sneaking down the corridors, Chris silent behind him. It was even fun when they were nearly caught, diving into an unlocked room when they heard Joey shout about hidden clothes.
It’s not fun now.
“Lance, get back.” Chris is pushing Lance behind him, trying to shield him with his body. But no matter how big Chris tries to make himself, Lance is just that bit taller and can still see the group of people who are standing scarily close, big ass guns in hand.
Lance looks at them, and they look back, and he holds onto the back of Chris’ shirt with a vice like grip, scrunching the fabric in his fist. He can sense Chris quivering, whole body tensed, ready to charge at a moments notice. Lance puts his free hand on the small of Chris’ back, under his hitched up shirt, fingers pressed against warm skin. He knows Chris would die for him; he doesn’t need a demonstration.
“What do you want? If it’s money I’ll get you some, just let him go.” Lance marvels that Chris sounds so calm, then fights the illogical urge to slap Chris for suggesting he stay behind while Lance go free. Not that he’s going to go free anyway. One man smiles, obviously mocking, raising his gun further in the air. It must be a signal as all of them start to move forward, and Lance is pressed even tighter against the wall as Chris backs up.
Memories fly through Lance’s mind. His family, his friends, his career in Nsync, a lifetime recalled in seconds. It makes Lance dizzy, the only solid thing in his world the feel of Chris’ body against his. He didn’t expect to die like this, in a deserted corridor in an empty rehearsal studio and for a moment Lance feels his knees start to buckle, and he’s thankful that he’s wedged between Chris and the wall.
“Security will be here any moment. You don’t want to do this.” Chris still sounds calm, and Lance’s transported to a time when Chris could solve every problem. When he though Chris could never be hurt and no one could ever hurt him. Lance’s not 17 anymore, he knows Chris can’t solve every problem, but that doesn’t stop that brief flare of hope. That Chris will get them out of this.
The hope’s extinguished when one of the men step forward, pressing his gun against Chris’ head. “We don’t want money, and security won’t be here in time. It doesn’t take long to pull a trigger, even if you have to do it twice.”
“Why?” Lance manages to scrape the word out of his dry throat.
“Because I hate you, we hate you.” Most of the group make some token of agreement. “Why should you get it all? Why should we hide in the shadows while people like you get all the glory? You have to die.”
The man’s insane, Lance can tell and he knows this is the end. Maybe they could have talked their way out of a robbery, but these people want to kill. Murdered for being a success, Lance would laugh at the irony if he wasn’t so scared.
There’s a click and Lance realises he’s seconds from being killed, but first he has to see Chris die, and that isn’t going to happen. The sight of the gun pressed against Chris’ head destroys Lance’s fear in an instant, and he leaps, pushing Chris forward.
There’s a huge bang and a brilliant flash of light, and Lance lies on the cold floor, scared to open his eyes. He thinks he’s still alive, can feel no pain but what if he opens his eyes and sees Chris’ lifeless body. Lance has only just found him; he can’t bear to lose him now.
“It’s okay, you can get up.”
It’s a woman’s voice, and Lance slowly opens his eyes. A red-head is standing over him, smiling reassuringly and Lance takes a deep breath before jerking up-right. “Chris!”
“He’s okay. You just knocked him out when you fell on him. Adam’s with him.” The woman points to a man who’s carefully examining a bruise Lance can see forming on Chris’ forehead. “Here, let me help you up and you can go see him yourself.”
Lance staggers to his feet, and grips her shoulder gratefully as he wobbles to Chris’ side. Dropping ungracefully to his knees, Lance looks at Chris who’s lying on his back. The bruise on his head is spectacular and Lance winces in sympathy, but better a bruise than a bullet. “Where are they?” Lance can’t believe he forgot about them, the people that nearly killed them.
“Gone, at least some of them, he wasn’t so lucky.” The man, Adam, pointed to a body on the ground.
“Is he…”
“No, he’s alive, Brennan just stunned him.” Lance doesn’t know how he feels. He doesn’t believe in killing people in cold blood, but they tried to kill Chris. Maybe this time he believes in an eye for an eye. “The rest of my team are chasing the others, hopefully they’ll have caught them by now.”
“There’s more of you?” Lance starts to feel dizzy again, and reaches for Chris’ lax hand, holding it tight in his own. The woman seems to understand how he feels and crouches down.
“It’ll be fine. Your other friends are safe, and so are you. I wish we’d got here earlier but it took a while to crack the code on the list.”
“There’s a list?” It’s all confusing and Lance just wants to wake Chris up and go back to bed.
“There was a list.” Adam sounds satisfied and Lance can barely stop the urge to just grab hold of him and demand answers. The woman seems to sense this, and quickly suppresses a smile.
“Adam’s right. There was a list but it’s destroyed now. At least to the people that were using it. We have it now and we’re going to make sure no one else gets hurt.
Lance still has questions, but stops when a voice sounds out of nowhere.
Adam, we have them. Do you need help down there?
“No, that’s fine, Jesse.” Adam seems to be talking into thin air, but Lance doesn’t comment, just holds Chris’ hand as Adam and the woman both stand.
“Make sure he gets rest and painkillers when he wakes up.” Adam smiles a little. “It’s been nice to meet you Mr Bass, a pity it wasn’t in better circumstances. Emma you know what to do?”
Emma nods and Lance instinctively moves closer to Chris. “It’s okay. I’m just going to say goodbye. But before I go…can I have a hug” Emma looks embarrassed and Lance nods automatically, then relaxes as Emma gathers him in a loose hug. “Shalimar’s going to be so jealous when I tell her I hugged you.”
Lance hears Adam discretely cough, and Emma pulls back, then stares at him with utter concentration. “We have to go now, Lance. When you wake you won’t remember any of this. You’ll think you were running and Chris fell pulling you down with him. And when you’re at the concert on Tuesday you’ll remember to dedicate a song to your biggest fans, Shalimar and Emma. Sleep now, Lance. Everything’s fine.”
For a few seconds Lance could feel himself slide toward sleep, and hear Adam’s voice talking about being a professional. Then nothing.
